To begin with, Lexus and the Olive Tree is not just the title of a great book, but it is a metaphor for the book. The Lexus in the title represents how everyone in the globalized world wants the flagship product. Just to have the newest and best product. Once someone has this in their procession, someone else wants better, it becomes a competition without people even realizing it. The olive tree, however, is more seen in smaller towns. They stay in their country and keep to themselves. They don't buy products from other countries because they are afraid of being looked down upon. Smaller countries usually have a dictator, and that dictator will “brainwash” his people. It makes them think smaller and doesn't let them know that there is a better way to live out there. Smaller countries fight each other for territory. Friedman uses these elements to describe globalization, because they describe communication and let all that communication cross borders to inform other countries about what is happening in the world. In the Lexus and the Olive Tree Friedman believes that the world is only ten years old. He explains: "When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, we understood it ten years later. The world was born when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989." As far as I understand, he is telling us that once the Berlin Wall fell, democracy in the world changed. The growth of free markets has allowed more and more people to pursue their ambitions and actually realize them. This is what is leading to globalization, as what is defined as the process in which social institutions are adopted on a global scale. We had a similar era of globalization between the mid-1800s and 1920s, preceding the First World War. It is very identical to the one we live in today. What is new in today's globalization is the degree and intensity with which the world is being tied together into a single globalized market and village. Also new in the globalized world is the number of people and countries able to participate in today's globalized economy and information networks. Technology has remained suspended since the last globalized era and has undergone a change politically. Friedman tells us that globalization has replaced the Cold War.